In the fourth quarter of 2012, Samsung and Apple together raised their global smartphone market share to 52 per cent, up from 46.4 per cent from the previous quarter.

Gartner said while the demand for iPhones in the fourth quarter, consumer demand favoured the less expensive iPhone 4 and 4S. It added the arrival of the iPad Mini also created a dilemma for some users when deciding if to upgrade an iPhone 4 or iPhone 4S to an iPhone 5, or buy the new tablet.

WORLDWIDE
USAGE

The speed and scale of the world's love affair with mobile phones was revealed in 2009 in a UN report that showed more than half the global population now pay to use one.

The survey, by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU), an agency of the UN, also found that nearly a quarter of the world's 6.7 billion people use the internet.

But it is the breathtaking growth of cellular technology that is doing more to change society, particularly in developing countries where a lack of effective communications infrastructure has traditionally been one of the biggest obstacles to
economic
growth.

RECYCLING

Some three-year-old handsets fetch £50, it’s time to search dusty drawers and cupboards for the phones that time forgot. All you need is the handset – don’t bother with the box, manual or charger, and even if your phone is broken, you might get
something for
it.

Finding the best price for your phone has got much easier thanks to a host of specialist price-comparison sites that have sprung up online. Input your phone’s make and model on a site such as Compare My Mobile or Search My Mobile, and it will aggregate prices from partner websites to show who is offering the best deal.

Most mobile phone companies sell on unwanted phones to wholesalers in developing nations, who in turn sell them on to shops, businesses and individual customers. The price of unwanted handsets is based on this demand, which explains why the value of some handsets can fluctuate.

Mazuma Mobile, one of the biggest recycling firms, said it had paid out £68 million to consumers for their unwanted handsets since the site launched three years ago. Not all handsets end up abroad. Some companies also sell mobile phones back in to the UK market, with reconditioned handsets often bought by insurance firms to replace lost or stolen phones, or by wholesalers to sell second-hand.

Phones sent in for recycling are checked against a database of lost and stolen handsets. Many recycling companies also provide deletion tools so that sensitive, personal data can be wiped off before selling them.

Use a price comparison site to find out which company will give you the most money for your phone, but this should not be the only factor when choosing who you’ll sell your phone to – the terms and conditions of sale, and the speed with which payments are made are equally important. Look out for companies that pay you on the day they receive your phone and use a method that won’t take days to clear in your account.

Some companies also deduct a lot of money if your phone is scratched or damaged, so check to see how the company defines a “working” and “non-working” handset.

Broadly speaking, a phone is defined as “working” if it can be turned on and off; it’s fully functional; the screen is not damaged in such a way that it can’t be viewed; it comes with a battery; and it hasn’t been crushed, dunked in water or otherwise mistreated. If your phone fails any of those criteria, fear not – most major sites will still buy it from you, albeit for a reduced price.

WHAT
IS A MOBILE PHONE?

A
mobile or cell(ular) (tele)phone is
a long-range, portable electronic device for personal
telecommunications over long distances.

Most
current mobile phones connect to a cellular network of base stations
(cell sites), which is in turn interconnected to the public switched
telephone network (PSTN) (the exception are satellite phones).
Cellular networks were first introduced in the early to mid 1980s (the
1G generation). Prior mobile phones operating without a cellular
network (the so-called 0G generation), such as Mobile Telephone
Service, date back to 1945. Until the mid to late 1980s, most mobile
phones were sufficiently large that they were permanently installed in
vehicles as car phones. With the advance of miniaturization, currently
the vast majority of mobile phones are handheld. In addition to the
standard voice function of a telephone, a mobile phone can support
many additional services such as SMS for text messaging, email, packet
switching for access to the Internet,
and MMS for sending and receiving photos and video.

The
world's largest mobile phone operators include Orange SA, China Mobile
and Vodafone.

There
are also specialist communication systems related to, but distinct
from mobile phones, such as Professional Mobile Radio. Mobile phones
are also distinct from cordless telephones, which generally operate
only within a limited range of a specific base station. Technically,
the term mobile phone includes such devices as satellite phones
and pre-cellular mobile phones such as those operating via MTS which
do not have a cellular network, whereas the related term cell(ular)
phone does not. In practice, the two terms are used nearly
interchangeably, with the preferred term varying by location.

Worldwide
deployment

Radio
phones have a long and varied history that stretches back to the
1950s, with hand-held cellular radio devices being available since
1983. Due to their low establishment costs and rapid deployment,
mobile phone networks have since spread rapidly throughout the world,
outstripping the growth of fixed telephony.

In
most of Europe,
wealthier parts of Asia, Africa,
the Caribbean,
Latin America, Australia,
Canada, and the United States, mobile phones are now widely used, with
the majority of the adult, teenage, and even child population owning
one. Taiwan
had the highest mobile phone usage in 2005 at 111 subscribers per 100
people. Hong
Kong has the highest mobile phone penetration rate in the world,
at 127.4% in June 2006.[2]
The total number of mobile phone subscribers in the world was
estimated at 2.14 billion in 2005. Around 80% of world's population
have mobile phone coverage as of 2006. This figure is expected to
increase to 90% by the year 2010

At
present India
and China have the largest growth rates of cellular subscribers in the
world. The availability of Prepaid or pay as you go services, where
the subscriber does not have to commit to a long term contract, has
helped fuel this growth on a monumental scale.

The
mobile phone has become ubiquitous because of the interoperability of
mobile phones across different networks and countries. This is due to
the equipment manufacturers working to meet one of a few standards,
particularly the GSM standard which was designed for Europe-wide
interoperability. All European nations and most Asian and African
nations adopted it as their sole standard. In other countries, such as
the United States, Australia, Japan, and South Korea, legislation does
not require any particular standard, and GSM coexists with other
standards, such as CDMA and iDEN.

World
mobile phone usage

Mobile
phone culture or customs

In
fewer than twenty years, mobile phones have gone from being rare and
expensive pieces of equipment used by businesses to a pervasive
low-cost personal item. In many countries, mobile phones now outnumber
land-line telephones, with most adults and many children now owning
mobile phones . In the United States, 50% of children own mobile
phones.[3]
It is not uncommon for young adults to simply own a mobile phone
instead of a land-line for their residence . In some developing
countries, where there is little existing fixed-line infrastructure,
the mobile phone has become widespread. According to the CIA World
Factbook the UK now has more mobile phones than people [4].

With
high levels of mobile telephone penetration, a mobile culture has
evolved, where the phone becomes a key social tool, and people rely on
their mobile phone address book to keep in touch with their friends.
Many people keep in touch using SMS, and a whole culture of "texting"
has developed from this. The commercial market in SMS's is growing.
Many phones even offer Instant Messenger services to increase the
simplicity and ease of texting on phones. Cellular phones in Japan,
offering Internet capabilities such as NTT DoCoMo's i-mode, offer text
messaging via standard e-mail.

The
mobile phone itself has also become a totemic and fashion object, with
users decorating, customizing, and accessorizing their mobile phones
to reflect their personality. This has emerged as its own industry.
The sale of commercial ring-tones exceeded $2.5 billion in 2004 [5].

Mobile
phone etiquette has become an important issue with mobiles ringing at
funerals, weddings, movies, and plays. Users often speak at increased
volume which has led to places like bookshops, libraries, movie
theatres, doctor's offices, and houses of worship posting signs
prohibiting the use of mobile phones, and in some places installing
signal jamming equipment to prevent usage (although in many countries,
e.g. the United States, such equipment is illegal). Transportation
providers, particularly those doing long-distance services, often
offer a "quiet car" where phone use is prohibited, much like
the designated non-smoking cars in the past. Mobile phone use on aircraft
is also prohibited, because of concerns of possible interference with
aircraft radio communications [6].
Most schools in the U.S prohibit cell phones due to the high amount of
class disruptions due to their use, and due to the possibility of
photographing someone (without consent).

Camera
phones and videophones that can capture video and take photographs are
increasingly being used by companies like Scoopt to cover breaking
news. Stories like the London
Bombings, the Indian Ocean Tsunami
and Hurricane
Katrina have been reported on by camera phone users on photo
sharing sites like Flickr.

In
Japan, cellular phone companies provide immediate notification of earthquakes
and other natural disasters to their customers free of charge. In the
event of an emergency, disaster response crews can locate trapped or
injured people using the signals from their mobile phones; an
interactive menu accessible through the phone's Internet browser
notifies the company if the user is safe or in distress.

Mobile
phone features

Invented
in 1997, the camera phone is now 85% of the market. Mobile phones also
often have features beyond sending text messages and making voice
calls—including Internet browsing, music (MP3) playback, personal
organizers, e-mail, built-in cameras and camcorders, ringtones, games,
radio, Push-to-Talk (PTT), infrared and Bluetooth connectivity, call
registers, ability to watch streaming video or download video for
later viewing, and serving as a wireless modem for a PC.

In
most countries, the person receiving a cellular phone call pays
nothing. However, in China
(including Hong
Kong), Canada, and the United States, one can be charged per
minute.

Mobile
phone tower

Technology

Mobile
phones and the network they operate under vary significantly from
provider to provider, and even from nation to nation. However, all of
them communicate through electromagnetic radio waves with a cell site
base station, the antennas of which are usually mounted on a tower,
pole, or building.

The
phones have a low-power transceiver that transmits voice and data to
the nearest cell sites, usually 5 to 8 miles (approximately 8 to 13 kilometres)
away. When the cellular phone or data device is turned on, it
registers with the mobile telephone exchange, or switch, with its
unique identifiers, and will then be alerted by the mobile switch when
there is an incoming telephone call. The handset constantly listens
for the strongest signal being received from the surrounding base
stations. As the user moves around the network, the mobile device will
"handoff" to various cell sites during calls, or while
waiting (idle) between calls it will reselect cell sites.

Cell
sites have relatively low-power (often only one or two watts) radio
transmitters which broadcast their presence and relay communications
between the mobile handsets and the switch. The switch in turn
connects the call to another subscriber of the same wireless service
provider or to the public telephone network, which includes the
networks of other wireless carriers.

The
dialogue between the handset and the cell site is a stream of digital
data that includes digitized audio (except for the first generation
analog networks). The technology that achieves this depends on the
system which the mobile phone operator has adopted. Some technologies
include AMPS for analog, and D-AMPS, CDMA2000, GSM, GPRS, EV-DO, and
UMTS for digital communications. Each network operator has a unique
radio frequency band.

Controversy

Health
controversy

As
with many new technologies, concerns have arisen about the effects on
health from using a mobile telephone. There is a small amount of
scientific evidence for an increase in certain types of rare tumors
(cancer) in long-time, heavy users. More recently a pan-European study
provided significant evidence of genetic damage under certain
conditions. Some researchers also report the mobile phone industry has
interfered with further research on health risks. So far, however, the
World Health Organization Task Force on EMF effects on health has no
definitive conclusion on the veracity of these allegations. (See also
electromagnetic radiation hazard.) It is generally thought, however,
that RF is incapable of producing any more than heating effects, as it
is considered non-ionizing radiation; in other words, it lacks the
energy to disrupt molecular bonds such as occurs in genetic mutations.

Sperm
Production

Mobile
phones have also been identified as a cause of reduced sperm
production in men. Microwaves emitted by the phones reduce the number,
mobility and quality of sperm by almost half in the heaviest users, to
the point where some men may become infertile, scientists say. This
could have devastating consequences for fertility rates around the
world. Almost a billion people around the world use mobile phones, and
the number is growing. Even a small effect on fertility could result
in millions of men being rendered childless.

Driving
controversy

Another
controversial but more lethal health concern is the correlation with
road traffic accidents. Several studies have shown that motorists have
a much higher risk of collisions and losing control of the vehicle
while talking on the mobile telephone simultaneously with driving,
even when using "hands-free" systems. Other studies have
shown that using a mobile phone while driving poses the same risk as
someone operating a vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. Four
U.S. states and many countries have now restricted or prohibited the
use of mobile phones while driving. In the UK and in Israel, driving
whilst holding a mobile phone to ones ear is illegal.

Potential
danger during electrical storms

In
2006, it was reported [7]
that mobile phone users suffer much more serious lesions than
non-users, in case of being struck by lightning during an electrical
storm. Cell phones do not, however, present the danger of a land line
during an electrical storm; whereas wires can carry a lightning strike
to a nearby telephone user, cell phone signals are immune to such
danger.

Security
concerns

Early
mobile phones were limited in their security features. Some problems
with these models were "cloning", a variant of identity
theft, and "scanning" whereby third parties in the local
area could intercept and eavesdrop in on calls. Analogue phones could
also be listened to on some radio scanners.

Although
more recent digital systems (such as GSM) have attempted to address
these fundamental issues, security problems continue to persist.
Vulnerabilities (such as SMS spoofing) have been found in many current
protocols that continue to allow the possibility of eavesdropping or
cloning.

It
should be noted that on a technical level, CDMA is more secure then
GSM and TDMA. This is due to the fact that all calls are separated
onto their own channel and encoded with a unique encryption code. 1
In all though, digital is much more secure then analog systems.

Location tracking using mobile phones is also a concern.

Mock-up
of the "portable phone of the future," - a 60s Bell
System

ad
shows a portable uncannily like a modern mobile

Mobile
communication studies

Since
2002 there has been an enormous increase in academic research
regarding the social impact of mobile phones. Books include:

Levinson,
Paul, Cellphone: The Story of the World's Most Mobile Medium,
and How It Has Transformed Everything! 2004

Rheingold,
Howard, Smart Mobs: The Next Social Revolution, 2002

Future
prospects

This
article may contain original research or unverified claims.

There
is a great deal of active research and development into mobile phone
technology that is currently underway. Some of the improvements that
are being worked on are:

Now
that operators are upgrading their networks to advanced wireless
and other third-generation (3G) services, many new entertainment
and communications services are becoming available, including new
broadcast-type operations on spectrum formerly occupied by
Television Channels 52-69. With downlink speeds comparable to that
of wireline DSL, mobile service can now offer capabilities such as
streaming video sharing and music downloads. Services such as
MobiTV, Digital Mobile TV or Juice Caster are just some examples
of applications that leverage these new networks.

One
difficulty in adapting mobile phones to new uses is form factor.
For example, ebook readers may well become a distinct device,
because of conflicting form-factor requirements — ebook readers
require large screens, while phones need to be smaller. However,
this may be solved using folding e-paper or built-in projectors.

One
function that would be useful in phones is a translation function.
Currently it is only available in stand-alone devices, such as
Ectaco translators.

An
important area of evolution relates to the Man Machine Interface.
New solutions are being developed to create new MMI more easily
and let manufacturers and operators experiment new concepts.
Examples of companies that are currently developing this
technology are Digital Airways with the Kaleido product, e-sim,
mobile arsenal, and Qualcomm with uiOne for the BREW environment.

Mobile
phones will include various speech technologies as they are being
developed. Many phones already have rudimentary speech recognition
in a form of voice dialing. However, to support more natural
speech recognition and translation, a drastic improvement in the
state of technology in these devices is required.

New
technologies are being explored that will utilize the Extended
Internet and enable mobile phones to treat a barcode as a URL tag.
Phones equipped with barcode reader-enabled cameras will be able
to snap photos of barcodes and direct the user to corresponding
sites on the Internet. This technology can be extended to RFID
tags, or even snapped pictures of company logos. Searches can also
be personalized to local areas using a GPS system built in to cell
phones. Examples of companies that are currently developing this
technology are Nextcode, OP3, Neomedia Technologies, and Scanbuy,
the latter of which is currently being sued by Neomedia for patent
infringement. Another approach (used by jumptag.com) is to map
URLs to short text tags tailored for easy user entry on phone
keypads.

Developments
in miniaturized hard disks and flash drives to solve the storage
space issue are already surfacing, therefore opening a window for
phones to become portable music libraries and players similar to
the iPod.

The
emergence of integration capabilities with other unlicensed access
technologies such as a WiMAX and WLAN, as well as allowing
handover between traditional operator networks supporting GSM,
CDMA and UMTS to unlicensed mobile networks. The new standard (UMA)
has been developed for this to move towards fixed mobile
convergence.

Further
improvements in battery life will be
required. Colour screens and additional functions put increasing
demands on the device's power source, and battery developments may
not proceed sufficiently fast to compensate. However, different
display technologies, such as OLED displays, e-paper, or retinal
displays, and smarter communication hardware (directional
antennae, multi-mode, and peer-to-peer phones) may reduce power
requirements, while new power technologies such as fuel
cells may provide better energy capacity.

New
technology in Japan has combined the RFID chip principle into the
handset and hooked it up to a network of readers and interfaces.
The system, pioneered by NTT DoCoMo and SonyEricsson, is called
FeliCa and there are around 10,000 convenience stores where one
can now use a phone to pay for goods just by 'swiping' it over a
flat reader. By charging up a phone with pre-paid cash credits, it
can act as a sophisticated mobile-phone wallet. The technology is
proving popular and there are now even vending machines that
accept this form of payment.

The
delivery of multimedia and broadcast content including video to
mobiles is beginning to become a reality with the rollout of
Qualcomm's MediaFLO. In addition, there are two main competing
standards DMB - Digital Multimedia Broadcasting - and DVB-H - a
handset version of the Digital Video Broadcasting standard. These
methods avoid swamping the network by using traditional
broadcasting.

Image
scanning, as seen in existing research [8][9].
With time, this may develop into full 3D texturing and modeling.
It is unlikely that cell phones will have the processing power to
construct models and textures. But it is likely that the bandwidth
to communicate the video, and receive a processed model will
exist.

There
are several cell phones that can perform GPS
positioning. In the future, GPS positioning may be coupled with
accelerometer positioning, for covering underground or indoor
positioning. This would likely lead to maps and help finding where
one is going. It also would support social efforts, such as
locating friends or group members nearby, and identifying some
strangers. The GPS technology already available in some phones,
while coupled with the camera phone, may also allow users in the
future to not only take a picture, but snap the exact location and
angle at which the picture was taken.

Terminology

Mobile
phone terms

BlackBerry
by Research in Motion is a mobile device with both phone functionality
and push based email functionality

Brick
or Candybar Style

1.
A large, heavy, and usually obsolete wireless mobile phone such as the
Motorola International 3200. (also Cinderblock or Shoebox)

2.
A mobile phone of a solid form factor. Originally many Nokia models
were of this design. (also candybar)

Camera
phone

A
mobile phone equipped with a digital optical camera. The camera may be
capable of capturing still images and/or video.

Clamshell
or flip phone

A
mobile phone of a form factor resembling the shell of a clam with the
ability to open up in the same way. Some earlier flip phones had a
small brick-like form factor with a hinge at the bottom of the phone
that was attached to a flat piece of plastic which flipped up to cover
the keypad but left the display screen exposed. It's worth noting that
'Flip Phone' is a trademark of Motorola, filed under registration
number 2157939 at the US Patent and Trademark Office.

Slider
or slide phone

A
mobile phone with a sliding form factor. Usually, the display slides
over the keypad to prevent accidental dialing. Some models are
designed so that the keypad slides over the display screen.

Cell
phone, cellular phone, or cell

Term
used currently in the United
States and Canada
(and in other countries as well during the 1980s) to refer to most
mobile phones. It technically applies specifically to mobile phones
which use a cellular network. In developing mobile phone technology,
American electrical engineers were confronted by the challenge of
achieving a smooth handoff from one radio antenna to the next. After
the name "cell" was applied to the zone covered by each
antenna, it was a natural choice for them to apply the term
"cellular" to both the technology and the phones that ran on
it.

Dual
front

Is
a design aspect which means that a phone can have two sides which are
contrasting in use, i.e. camera-like design on one side, and general
phone design on other.

Dual
NAM

Is
a feature that allows two mobile numbers from the same cellular vendor
to be associated with one mobile phone. The Dual Nam feature is useful
for people who have a business phone number and a personal phone
number on single mobile phone. Listed below are some information,
guidelines, and instructions for those interested in using Dual NAM.

Since
the use of Dual NAM requires that both numbers be provided by the
same cellular vendor.

Mobile
companies will not move telephone charges from one bill to the
other, so if you place/receive a billable call on the wrong
number, the charge will stay with the number used.

Contrary
to the way a desktop phone can be set up to operate with 2 lines
and ringing notification of a secondary incoming call, the
cellular phone cannot. Users are either on one line or the other.
There is no ringing notification when there is an incoming call on
the inactive line. That call goes to voice mail if that is set up
as an option on the cellular line.

Users
must learn to "toggle" between lines. The directions to
do so are specific to each cellular phone.

Message
waiting notification from voice mail is on the active line only.
Users toggling to the secondary line to check for message waiting
indication may perceive a "delay" because the cellular
line must initialize or talk to the tower, the tower must talk
with the voice mail system, the voice mail system must talk back
and finally message waiting notification can take place. It may
not happen instantly after toggling to the secondary line.

How
to order Dual NAM:

Submit
a requst that 1) Cellular number xxx-xxx-xxxx be added as a Dual
NAM to personal cellular number xxx-xxx-xxxx or 2) personal
cellular number xxx-xxx-xxxx be added as a Dual NAM to cellular
number xxx-xxx-xxxx.

The
Mobile company assist with programming cellular phone for Dual NAM
functionality.

Handset

A
term used by manufacturers to refer to a mobile phone. Also commonly
used by industry insiders.

Hands-free
car kit

Mobile
phone accessory used to talk while keeping hands on the steering
wheel.

Handy

An
English word adopted by German speakers to refer to mobile phones.

Hand
phone

Term
used currently in Asia-Pacific countries such as South Korea,
Singapore,
Malaysia,
and Indonesia to refer to most mobile phones.

Keitai

The
Japanese word for mobile phone, often used by any one living in Japan.

Mobile
phone

A
term covering cellular phones, satellite phones and any other phones
giving wide-ranging mobility used in most English-speaking countries.
In some English-speaking countries such as the United
Kingdom and Australia,
common usage refers specifically to phones using the cellular network.

Pelephone

(he.
פלאפון) The slang term for a
mobile phone in Israel. It is a brand name derived from the words Pele
(פלא) Telefon (טלפון).
These are the English words miracle and telephone respectively.

Ringtone

A
song or tune that is played to alert the user that a mobile phone is
receiving a call.

Satellite
phone

A
mobile phone which communicates with a satellite rather than a
land-based network.

Unlock

To
enter a code into a GSM phone which has a subsidy lock to one operator
so that it will accept a Subscriber Identity Module from another
operator.

Wireless
phone

A
term that generally refers to a Wi-Fi VoIP phone but is sometimes used
by the mobile phone industry to describe mobile phones.

Related
non-cellphone systems

Cordless
phone (portable phone)

Cordless
phones are standard telephones with radio handsets. Unlike mobile
phones, cordless phones use private base stations that are not shared
between subscribers. The base station is connected to a land-line.

Professional
Mobile Radio

Professional
mobile radio systems are very similar to cell phone systems and
attempts have even been made to use TETRA, the international digital
PMR standard, to implement public mobile networks, but normally PMR
systems are sufficiently separate from the phone network to not really
be considered phones but rather radios.

Radio
phone

This
is a term which covers radios which could connect into the telephone
network. These phones may not be mobile; for example, they may require
a mains power supply. Also, they may require the assistance of a human
operator to set up a PSTN phone call.

Finding
the right mobile phone and airtime package from numerous high street and
online dealers can prove to be an overwhelming challenge. However, there’s
more to a search than just finding a good looking phone. You need to
ensure you get a reliable service and sensibly priced airtime. We
therefore recommend you see these Mobile
Phone Dealers before buying.